Wanted: A senior-level marketing strategist, graphic designer, copywriter, web developer, PR consultant, social media manager, project coordinator, fundraising communicator, SEO specialist, videographer and brand advisor.
Must be available immediately. Must understand our industry. Must not require benefits, onboarding headaches, vacation coverage, payroll taxes or a full-time salary.
Sound impossible? It is — unless you hire Bark ONE.
I’m obviously having a bit of fun with this, but only because the underlying issue is so real. Over the years, we’ve had countless conversations with business leaders who know they need help but aren’t quite sure what kind of help they need most. Is it strategy? Is it writing? Is it design? Is it the website? Is it communications? Is it social media? Is it someone to step back and look at the whole thing objectively? Usually, the honest answer is yes.
And that’s the challenge. Most organizations don’t have one clean, isolated marketing or communications problem. They have a collection of gaps that have slowly formed over time. Some are caused by limited budgets, some are caused by limited time and some exist because one person internally is trying to carry five roles. Heck, some are simply the result of being too close to the work to see clearly what needs to change.
This becomes especially noticeable heading into summer, since summer has a way of exposing what has already been sitting unresolved. The project that was supposed to move forward in March is still waiting for direction. The fall campaign still needs shaping. The website still needs attention. The messaging still needs to be clarified. And everyone knows these things are important, but the internal team is already doing its best to keep up with the daily demands of the ministry.
That is exactly why we created our Bark ONE model. Bark ONE allows us to come alongside your company as part of the team rather than as a distant vendor handling disconnected tasks. We help with strategy, writing, design, websites, campaigns, communications, social media, technology and the other brand-related needs that tend to fall between the cracks when everyone is busy.
The goal is not to replace your team. In fact, some of our best work happens when we get to support good people who are already doing meaningful work but need more capacity, more perspective or a broader range of expertise around them.
At the end of the day, you probably can’t hire the employee described above. And even if you could, there’s a good chance they’d be impossible to keep. But you can hire us.
Before summer begins, it may be worth asking whether the better move is not to search for the impossible employee(s), but to bring the right partner around the table.
